Books/A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Go Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga

A Direct Path to the Buddha Within

Translation of Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long

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Maitreya’s Ratnagotravibhāga, also known as the Uttaratantra, is the main Indian treatise on buddha nature, a concept that is heavily debated in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. In A Direct Path to the Buddha Within, Klaus-Dieter Mathes looks at a pivotal Tibetan commentary on this text by Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal, best known as the author of the Blue Annals. Gö Lotsāwa, whose teachers spanned the spectrum of Tibetan schools, developed a highly nuanced understanding of buddha nature, tying it in with mainstream Mahāyāna thought while avoiding contested aspects of the so-called empty-of-other (zhentong) approach. In addition to translating key portions of Gö Lotsāwa's commentary, Mathes provides an in-depth historical context, evaluating Gö’s position against those of other Kagyü, Nyingma, and Jonang masters and examining how Gö Lotsāwa’s view affects his understanding of the buddha qualities, the concept of emptiness, and the practice of mahāmudrā. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Citation	Mathes, Klaus-Dieter. A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008.

Ngog Loden Sherab's Analytical Interpretation of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''

Book Excerpt

The Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga''

Book Excerpt

The Zhentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga

Book Excerpt

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• Abbreviationsviii
• Prefaceix
• Introduction1
  • General Remarks1
  • Delimitation of the Subject and Methods Employed3
  • The Ratnagotravibhāga and Its Vyākhyā7
  • The Reaction of Mainstream Mahāyāna to the Theory of Buddha Nature17
• Part I:The Tibetan Historical Context
  • 1. The Development of Various Traditions of Interpreting Buddha Nature25
    • Ngog Loden Sherab's Analytical Interpretation of
      the Ratnagotravibhāga25
    • Ratnagotravibhāga Commentaries in the Meditation Tradition32
    • The Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga34
    • The Zhentong Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga45
  • 2. Various Positions Related to Zhönu Pal's Interpretation49
    • The Position of the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorjé51
    • The Position of Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen75
    • The Position of Sabzang Mati Panchen84
    • The Position of Lodrö Tsungmé91
    • The Position of Longchen Rabjampa98
    • The Position of Barawa Gyaltsen Palzang113
    • A Comparison of the Positions125
  • 3. A Short Account of the Most Important Events in Zhönu Pal's Life131
• Part II: Translation
  • 4. Zhönu Pal's Ratnagotravibhagavyākhya Commentary151
    • Translator's Introduction151
    • Technical Notes154
    • The Commentary on the Treatise "Mahāyāna-Uttaratantra": The Mirror
      Showing Reality Very Clearly (Introduction and Initial Commentaries)157
      • Introduction157
      • The Commentary for Those with Sharp Faculties169
      • The Commentary for Those with Average Faculties180
        • The Explanation of RGV I.1181
        • The Explanation of RGV I.2204
          • The Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha205
          • Buddha Nature and Its Purification through the Three Dharmacakras214
          • Enlightenment, Buddha Qualities, and Activity309
        • A Short Explanation of RGV I.3312
• Part III. Zhonu Pal's Views on Buddha Qualities, Emptiness and Mahamudra
  • 5. Buddha Qualities317
    • General Remarks317
    • Different Views on Buddha Qualities318
    • The Blossoming of Subtle Qualities320
    • The Examples Used to Illustrate the Growth of the Qualities342
    • The Ontological Status of the Buddha Qualities344
  • 6. Two Types of Emptiness351
  • 7. Zhönu Pal's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga367
    • The Ratnagotravibhāga as a Basis for Mahāmudrā Instructions367
    • The Three Dharmacakras: Mahāmudrā Hermeneutics368
    • The Mahāmudrā Approach of Yogic Direct Valid Cognitions373
    • Sūtra-Based Mahāmudrā Meditation377
      • The First Mahāmudrā Yoga of One-Pointedness381
      • The Second Mahāmudrā Yoga of Freedom from Mental
        Fabrications382
      • The Third Mahāmudrā Yoga of One Taste384
      • The Fourth Mahāmudrā Yoga of Nonmeditation385
      • The Four Mahāmudrā Yogas and the Ratnagotravibhāga386
    • Zhönu Pal's Justification of a Sudden Mahāmudrā Path397
    • Pairs of Paradoxes406
  • 8. Conclusion411
• Notes423
• Table of Tibetan Transliteration555
• Bibliography565
• Subject Index589
• Indian Text Index607

A Direct Path to the Buddha Within is one of a handful of recent densely-presented studies of Tibetan attempts to grapple with the Uttaratantra and tathāgatagarbha theory. Klaus-Dieter Mathes takes as his focus Gö Lotsāwa Zhönu Pal's commentary on the sūtra, the translation of which makes up 165 pages out of the 421 of the book (excluding back matter). Preceding the translation are three introductory chapters on the intellectual context of Gö's work. The translation is followed by three chapters that individually address Mathes' three questions: what are "subtle" buddha qualities, how is buddha-nature related to prājñaparamitā, and how does Gö Lotsāwa read Mahāmudrā into the Uttaratantra and other Yogācāra works? The book assumes a high level of understanding of the issues and is meticulous in its detail and documentation; the footnotes have footnotes.

Mathes argues that Gö's intention with his commentary was to provide a sūtra basis for Mahāmudrā, the otherwise tantric teaching of the Kagyu tradition. There is some irony in this, as Mathes somewhat blithely dismisses what he claims was Longchenpa's attempt to use the same material to find an Indian basis for Dzokchen, an otherwise tantric teaching of the Nyingma tradition. Both great masters did indeed seem hard-pressed to justify the central teaching of their tradition against criticism of Prājñaparamitā-based Madhyamaka adherents in the Sakya and Kadam/Geluk traditions. These criticisms generally centered on the issue of whether the ultimate could correctly be described as possessing qualities of its own or whether emptiness was, in fact, a radical denial of all propositions. Sakya, Kadam, and Geluk writers argued either that the Uttaratantra was provisional—a Yogācāra teaching in need of interpretation—or its teaching on buddha-nature was in line with a Madhyamaka presentation of emptiness, denying the language-positive elements of the scripture.

Gö rejected both of these positions, arguing that the Uttaratantra is consistent with other Third-Turning teachings of Yogācāra and that such teachings are definitive. This was a necessary move in order to conflate cataphatic Yogācāra doctrine with Mahāmudrā: buddha-nature for Gö is not a synonym for emptiness, but rather for "the unfabricated nature of mind" and "luminosity," core Mahāmudrā doctrine. But Gö differentiated his approach from other advocates of a Yogācāra interpretation. He argued against the notion that buddha-nature is fully formed in every sentient being (the "buddha qualities" discussion), advocating instead that buddha-nature is a potential that needs to be developed. We are not like golden statues hidden in mud, but rather like acorns that need water and sunlight to grow into oak trees.

1. 'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal. Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos kyi 'grel bshad de kho na nyid rab tu gsal ba'i me long. In 'Gos Lo tsā ba gZhon nu dpal's Commentary on the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā. Nepal Research Centre Publications, 24. Edited by Klaus-Dieter Mathes. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2003.

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib. རྙིང་མ་

Jonang - The Jonang tradition was established by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a thirteenth-century Sakya monk famous for his Zhentong teachings. The Jonang teachings and monasteries were suppressed in Tibet in the seventeenth century but survived in Amdo. Tib. ཇོ་ནང་

śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāmudrā - Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā. Skt. महामुद्रा Tib. ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

gzhan stong - The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature. Tib. གཞན་སྟོང་

tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt. सूत्र Tib. མདོ། Ch. 佛经

Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་

Kadam - The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century. Tib. བཀའ་གདམས་

Geluk - The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་

neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt. नेयार्थ Tib. དྲང་དོན་

sems nyid - Commonly found in Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā literature, this term denotes the true, natural state of mind as it is. Often used in these traditions as a synonym for buddha-nature. Skt. चित्तत्व Tib. སེམས་ཉིད་

prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明